Hurt Comfort MM Romance – Review
Reckless Hearts by Jax Calder
Reckless Hearts: A Best Friend’s Brother, Hurt Comfort MM Romance by Jax Calder | Goodreads | Bookbub | My rating: 5 of 5 stars
5/5 Loved This Book
Okay, wow. Let me be honest. I started out struggling with this book. I was trying but found myself unable to relate to the characters. They seemed like upper-middle-class, privileged kids. They live an idyllic life of rented-out castles for birthdays (wtf) and expensive weekend getaways. Rich kid things, but the rich kids don’t recognize they’re super privileged. Can’t relate.
The Struggle is WORTH IT
So I was struggling. Big time. But by the end of the book, I was crying happy tears and cheering for everyone—fully invested. So, if this book starts out slowly for you and you want to put it down, I beg you: Please, please don’t! Give it a chance and keep reading. Eventually, this book will deliver a full return on your investment.
Seb and Marcus
Seb and Marcus are magnetic, they’re drawn to one another. They can’t help but get caught in each other’s orbit.
Seb
Seb is shy and awkward. He’s in his first few years of college studying science. Lucky for him he’s in New Zealand, an ecological wonder with lots of science stuff to study. He’s been the kid fascinated by science to the detriment of his social skills, the stereotypical nerd. But there’s usually a lot more going on beneath the surface of a nerdy exterior. Seb is fascinated by his older sister’s best friend, Marcus. Fascinated as in he’s got a huge crush on him. A huge, longstanding crush to the point that he can hardly get a sentence out when Marcus is around.
Marcus
Marcus is a few years older, way cooler, and totally cocky. He’s got all the swagger that Seb doesn’t. Marcus is hot. He’s popular. Most of all, Marcus is terribly charming. He’s so carefree and blasé about things, it almost seems like a façade (small spoiler alert: it is). And while at first Marcus seems to be toying with Seb when he gets flirty with him, it’s quickly clear that the two have explosive chemistry. But here’s where the first bit of angst in this hurt comfort mm romance enters stage left. They fall into a relationship that has been on the down low since its inception. Why? Because of the sister.
Saskia
Seb’s sister is the clear favorite in the family, something that sort of broke my heart multiple times as I read. Their parents dismiss Seb without seeing how awesome he is in favor of fawning over his older sister, Saskia. Saskia is pre-law and very very self-centered. She’s truly not a likable character for the majority of her page time. She does, finally, come around, but dang it’s a long haul.
Picture Perfect
She’s a picture-perfect daughter. Smart, popular, and pretty, her perfect future is all mapped out for her and it wouldn’t dare deviate from that picture-perfect plan. But the way her family pushes Seb’s interests into the “you’re a nerd we’re disappointed” pile to further build up Saskia’s already massive ego is really devastating. Seeing this happening develops the angst. It’s part of the world-builidng. I understand that. Boy, do I. And I really empathized with Seb, how he always feels overshadowed. Belittled. It is as if what he’s interested in, what he’s really good at, is somehow not enough. It just hit close, I guess. Great character development though, Saskia’s character arc really impressed me.
Hush-Hush
The hush-hush nature of Seb and Marcus’s fling speaks to how fearful they both are of rocking the S.S. Saskia. They don’t want her to know so they hook up in private. That might make things hotter but it also perpetuates Seb’s feelings of inadequacy. And their fling has a terminus date: Saskia and Marcus are going off on an American road trip to celebrate their last year of college. Seb knows it’s futile to maintain any sort of long-distance thing. They’re not even together together, they have a situationship. Getting attached is a mistake he tries to avoid. He thinks that his inevitable heartbreak is one-sided because his self-esteem lies to him and tells him that Marcus couldn’t possibly be as into him. Lies, big lies.
Marcus is HOT
Did I mention that Marcus is like, model-hot? Well he is. And not just to Seb with the heart eyes and the hormones. Marcus gets discovered while on his road trip and never returns to New Zealand. He becomes a model and then later an actor and hits it big. Like blockbuster big. Good for him.
No-Contact
Good for him but what a massive douche move to NEVER CONTACT SEB again. Ugh I wanted to throat-kick him for just dropping. I was feeling all the hurt and none of the comfort here. Readers will understand a lot more about Marcus’s motivations and perspective as they delve into the meat of this story but just prepare for feeling some sort of way about Marcus’s actions for a while.
The Wedding
They see each other after a long, long seven years at Saskia’s wedding. Bridezilla brings everyone to a tropical island destination wedding and the two find that they are in each other’s orbit again and can’t resist each other. They rekindle their relationship and it’s off to the races after that.
The Payout
I don’t want to write much about the inevitable angst and the majority of the hurt comfort elements in this mm romance because the plot is really something that should be read and discovered on your own. But let me tell you. This book is so good. So, so good. I loved it. Seb and Marcus are love. I rooted for them. I would be best friends with them. They’re so, so perfect for each other. This one should be at the top of your to-read list, full stop.
Great read, loved this book so much!
Reviews
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. I write reviews on my blog, Goodreads, Bookbub, Amazon, and more. If you want me to read and review your upcoming novel read my review policy and submit a contact form.
